Theophilb augusts rousseau



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THEOPHILE AUGUSTE ROUSSEAU, OF BELLEVILLE, NEAR IARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNORTO EDOUARD ALEXANDER, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

REED-ORGAN.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, THOPHILE AUGUSTE RoUssnAU, of Belleville, nearParis, France, have invented new and useful Improvements in theManufacture of Organs and other Similar Musical Instruments; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification,in which- Figure l is a vertical and transverse section, Fig. 2 avertical section.

In these gures the same letters of reference are marked on the sameparts.

The nature of my invention refers to an improved construction ofportable organs in which the blast is given by means of either treadlesor a crank; and a keyboard is provided of the desired size and thedesired stops. My improvements may also be applied both to instrumentsupon which music is performed in the most complete manner and on thehighest pitch, and to smaller portable instruments, which are held uponones lap or upon a table.

One part of my invention consists in the application to the saidportable organs of certain valves worked by treadles or kneepieces, socalled from their being worked by the knee, and suitably connected tothe said valves. Fig. l, in the annexed drawing, is a vertical andtransverse section showing an arrangement which admits of such acombination. It is therein shown that a portion of said instrument is onthe percussion principle, and admits of a series of hammers a, for thedifferent notes g. Every stop is provided as usual with its valve l),opened or moved by means of registers operated upon by knobs c, motionbeing imparted by the usual treadles or connections 0. In order to allowan easy examination of the various parts in the instrument, the variousplans or stories are hinged, as shown at (Z, and the joints are securedby hooks, which allows an instantaneous view of all the various parts,and the putting of those various parts together again without anytrouble or expense. My bladed or valve boxes are represented at e Fig.l, and are generally shut up, but they readily yield and are opened byturning on their center axis, when they are acted upon by the leversshown in dotted line; these levers are disposed, so that upon beingworked by one or two pieces f which may be named treadles or kneepieces, as they are operated by the knee, the moving of either of saidpieces f will cause the valves e to open more or less rapidly accordingto the rapidity of the imparted motion. Only one of these knee pieces fis represented in the drawing, but it will be easily understood that onemay serve for the high notes and another for the low ones, or that asingle one may be employed in an instrument for all or part of thestops. The bladed valves are chiefly calculated to produce musicaleEects at a distance, and to impart to t-he sounds more or less durationaccording to the operators desire, still allowing at will the swellingof the said sounds.

Another part of my invention consists in the use of a valve for eachvibrative reed, and consequently each key when touched will act upon asmany valves as there are stops in the instrument; but these stops willnot allow any sound to be produced unless the registers c correspondingto the stops Z) are opened. Upon reference to Fig. l, it will be seenthat the keys a', acting through the damper l, levers o', and n, uponthe valves g, g', said valves are opened, but unless the stops to eitheror all of the chambers 7L, it, be open, the blast will not reach thereeds g, g, and no sound will be produced; the same feature is shown inFig. 2, in which the position of the stops or registers b, is inverted,in this instance. The reeds g which constitute the stops are in achamber 71. full of air, through which the blast gets into theinstrument by lifting` the valve z'. The blast is blown by any suitableblowing apparatus. Then any of the stops is to sound I open thecorresponding register Z) which is shown in dotted lines, for the thirdstop, where the register is supposed to be open, the other stops being`completely mute so long as their corresponding registers b are shut up.In order to open the registers` the knob 7c is drawn, the shank of whichis jointed to a lever la vibrating on a pivot, and the opposite end ofwhich. rests upon a cross piece mounted on a horizontal bar l whichcarries, opposite to a corresponding register, another cross pieceresting upon the register which is to be acted upon. The

reeds g are each of them covered by a Valve m bound squarely to thelever oV by a rod n. The Valves of the same note, corresponding to thedifferent stops, are all connected to the same key, but these notes willgive no sound unless the stops b are opened, thus in the instance shownat Fig. 2, although the four valves m are open, the one corresponding tothe stop supposed to be open will sound alone, but were two, three, oreven the four stops open, then the four reeds would sound. The Valvesmay be kept shut up, either as shown in the drawing by a spring y2 or byany other suitable arrangement. The valve Q of the reservoir g intendedfor expressiomJ is opened at will by a knob as tlieregisters are.

Instead of an arrangement, 'for effecting the blowing by means oftreadles, the motion may be imparted by one hand while the other hand isacting upon the keyboard.

Having thus described the nature of my invention and the manner in whichthe same is or may be carried into effect, I Wish it to be distinctlyunderstood that what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is,-

l. The arrangement of the wind chambers 71 and registers or stops b, incombination with the reeds g, g, as set forth, whereby each key (65,)operates as many valves as there are stops in the instrument but onlythose notes are caused to sound where the register (5,) is open as setforth, thus rendering the fingering easy whateverl may be the number ofstops.

2. I claim the arrangement of the valves e, e, and knee pieces f, f, inthe manner and for the purposes specified.

3. I claim the manner herein specified of arranging the Various plans orstories of the instrument as shown in F ig. l, and hinging the sametogether for affording access to the different parts as set forth.

T. A. ROUSSEAU. [1.. 5.]

Vitnesses E. FABREGNETTI, A. PERPIGNA.

